The Escape
Chapter Eight
*
One Step Closer
*

Taecyeon stirred awake and turned in his bed to reach for his phone, wondering what time it was. 'Ugggggggggghsdgsj' he mumbled at soon as he saw the time - 5.30am. Figuring it would be difficult and even more painful to part with his bed if he went back to sleep and woke up later, he mustered up every ounce of will power in him to get out of bed and into his en suite bathroom for a shower. As he stood in the shower while the water sprayed him, he recalled the events of the past few days.

Without realising, he had kissed Yoona's forehead the night when they were out at the Han River. He didn’t mean to, really, he didn’t. He didn’t know what had overcome him, but something had pulled him towards her. A powerful force. Although he may not know the story behind her sudden mood change at the charity event, but he was sure of one thing - he was falling for her. Hard. At first, he thought he was just assuming the role of an older brother, but Taecyeon knew better. He knew the difference between sibling love, and true love.

If it was sibling love her felt for Yoona, he wouldn’t be thinking about her the whole time while at work. If it was sibling love, he wouldn’t be thinking about that kiss every single damn hour of the day.

And if it was sibling love, he wouldn’t be wanting to do it again, for no reason at all.

He didn’t know if Yoona felt the same way. Hell, he didn’t even know if she was even aware he had kissed her forehead. But he sure as hell was going to find out.

*

"She's back? What do you mean she's back? I thought she was in New York," Minjun hastily asked his brother, Jay. The four of them - Minjun, Taecyeon, Wooyoung and Junho - had all been called into Jay's office at Park&Associates.

"She's back. And I need to talk to her. So cover me for this afternoon's meeting with the directors. Please?" Jay pleaded his brothers as he quickly packed up his belongings and headed out the door of his office. "And don’t forget about the new Public Relations Director that Tiffany hired!"

"Aish, what the hell. We can't say no now that he's gone after her," Taecyeon spoke up as they all stared out Jay's door.

A sudden silence filled the room now that the brothers realised that someone would have to cover Jay in a meeting with the company directors and the new Public Relations Director that was due to start in two weeks. Two very important meetings that Jay Park had just run out of, in pursuit of Jessica Jung, his ice princess.

"Well who is free this afternoon to actually attend the meeting?" Junho looked around at them. It was obvious to the brothers that no one wanted to go in replacement of Jay. They all had their fair share of endless meetings with the Directors every week, but nobody wanted to have to face the grumpy old business men and women when they didn’t need to.

"I'm already scheduled for a different meeting at that time," Minjun declared.

"I can't do it - I'm leaving work at lunch." Taecyeon quickly announced after.

"Can't we get someone like Peggy to fill in for Jay? My pile of paper work is just going to keep growing if I go!" Wooyoung whined.

"Dude, Peggy is only Jay's secretary. We can't send his secretary. They'll be expecting one of us if not Jay. And this is a meeting with the Directors, Wooyoung. D-I-R-E-C-T-O-R-S." Taecyeon spelled out for his younger brother.

"Looks like it's you who’s going then Junho," Minjun laughed and patted his back. "Have fun,"

"That Park Jaebeom better not screw it up with Jessica this time. I hate meetings with the Directors." Junho let out his frustration, scrunching up a piece of paper and aiming it at the dartboard in Jay's office in the process, only to be followed by laughter coming from his brothers.

*

'I'm leaving work early to clean up the house before Minho comes tonight. Are you free for the rest of the day? I can give you a lift home now if you are…'

'I'm not like you oppa. I like my job and I don’t like to leave early.' Yoona texted back. 'I probably won't be back till late, have a dinner date.'

'You're leaving me with a five year old kid on my own?! Minho will not be pleased when he hears his weekend mommy has left him for a dinner date!' he replied jokingly.

Taecyeon could not believe his eyes when he had seen her reply. She had a dinner date. He didn’t even know she had a boyfriend, and the thought of her getting intimate with a man other than himself bothered him as he cleaned his apartment, making sure all sharp and dangerous objects would be out of Minho's way when he arrived later that night.

When he had seen that text, he had immediately wanted to punch the living daylights out of the guy.

Yup. He was definitely falling for Yoona. Im Yoona. Kim Hyun Joong's little sister. Crap. 'Aish!' he grumbled to himself. 'You're losing your mind Taecyeon.'

He had to find a way to get her out of his system. Thinking about Yoona every hour of the day was not going to do him any good. Especially with work now that Jay decided to run after his princess than mind his family's company.

*

"Yoona! Over here!" Jessica waved her hand frantically in the air as she caught sight of her good friend.

"Sica!" Yoona squealed as soon as she caught her friend. Yoona took the seat opposite to her friend and when the waiter came to her, she ordered  for a glass of water and pasta. "Tell me all about your trip!"

Jessica laughed at Yoona's enthusiasm, recalling how Yoona had been even more excited than Jessica herself when she first told her about going to New York for a few months. "It was really fun over there. Next time, I'll bring you with me! The shops over there were amazing as well! But then I bumped into him."

"Who?" Yoona didn’t know who she was referring to. Him could have been anyone. Her father, her brother, a male celebrity, a male friend, and ex-boyfriend, hell, she could even be talking about God.

"Do you remember me telling you about that guy I had first started seeing about a year ago?"

"You mean the one that you absolutely refused to tell me his identity?"

"Yeah," Jessica sighed. "That one." She saw Yoona nod, a sign to tell her to continue on her story. "Well I guess he must have been on an overseas inspection for his company because I bumped into him in a coffee shop. I tried to avoid him at first, but then he saw me and there was no way I was going to be able to get out of there without him noticing. So then we got coffee together and had a chat. I was all going fine until he suddenly kissed me and told me that he had to go attend a business meeting. And that we'd meet again,"

Yoona listened to her long time friend rant. She was used to Jessica's ranting over this guy since their relationship seemed to be constantly going on and off again, but she could tell that Jessica liked the guy even though Yoona didn’t know who he was. "What do you plan on doing, Sica? You can't hide from him forever, and by the sounds of it, if you don’t go find him, he's going to go looking for you honey,"

"I know. And that's what bugs me. I finally get home to Korea and this is the first thing I have to deal with," she sighed.

Seeing her friend being brought down by boy-trouble, Yoona tried her best to make her smile. "Aw come on Sica, you get to have dinner with me before you have to deal with him!" she joked.

Jessica smiled. She could always count on Yoona to make her smile. "You know what? You're absolutely right!"

*

"Mr Park?" a suited man knocked on the open door of Park Jin Young's office.

"What is it?" the businessman replied, annoyed that his concentration on paperwork had been disrupted.

"He's been taken care of and taken for a medical examination. The girl should be safe now."

Park Jin Young heaved a sigh of relief. Thank God. "Did you manage to find out who the other guy was?"

"Ok Taecyeon. Adoptive son of Kim Wonhee. He was taken in by her in his early teens when his parents decided to immigrate to the States. He works for Kim's deceased husband's company, Park& Associates, along with the rest of his adoptive brothers. No criminal background or offences - the guy's totally clean. We're still trying to find out his relation with Miss Im,"

"Good work. Keep me updated on all activity."

*

Finally, he had finished cleaning the whole apartment. But the lingering thought of Yoona still refused to disperse. The feeling of his phone vibrating in his back pant pocket broke his thoughts.

"Bro. Open up,"

"Well hello to you too Nichkhun!" he joked. "I'm coming." Hanging up, he put down his phone and rushed to open the door for the father and son.

"Uncle Taec!!" he heard as soon as the door swooped open.

"Hey little man!" Taecyeon greeted his godson, ruffling the five year olds head as he waddled past. "Beer?" he offered Nichkhun as he motioned for him to come inside too.

"No thanks, I'm leaving in a minute anyway. Where's Yoona?" Nichkhun looked around the apartment.

"She went out for dinner. So what are the rules that you've set for the little fellow this time round?" Taecyeon nodded his head in the direction of Minho who had just gone to the fridge to get a juice box.

Nichkhun laughed at the sight of his son. "Minho, you’re supposed to ask Uncle Taec if you can have a juice box!"

"Daddy, this juice box was in the 'Minho's Box' part of the fridge. If it's in my part of the fridge, why do I need to ask?" The five year old explained.

Nichkhun could only shake his head in laughter. "You’re a bad influence on him you know Taec."

"It’s the only way I can keep being his favourite Uncle," Taecyeon joked.

"Anyway, he's got school tomorrow morning, so don’t let him go to bed late tonight. Make sure he eats his vegetables too man. He's been rather rebellious these past few weeks. Don’t let him play too many video games either. He'll go four eyes pretty soon like that," Nichkhun counted off his fingers.

Hah. No way was that happening. Minho pretty much lived for video games when he stayed with Taecyeon, and now was not the time to risk losing the title as his favourite Uncle. No, his brothers would swoop in with the newest console and video games to claim the title themselves if that happened."No problemo. He's in safe hands, now where's his stuff?"

"In this bag," Nichkhun handed over an oversized duffel bag. Everything you need is in there. Rightio, I'm off. Thanks again for having him this weekend man,"

"Okay. See ya Daddy," the son answered his father, eyes focused on the cartoon that was currently airing on the television.

*

"So I hear you're living with a guy," Jessica suddenly brought up while the two of them ate their dinner.

"Yuri tell you that?" Yoona raised an eye brow at her friend.

"I was on the phone with her last week. Why didn’t you tell me you had a stalker!" Jessica had been shocked to hear the news when she was on the phone with Yuri, and even more shocked to hear that Yoona was living with a male. Of all the years that Jessica had known Yoona, which was from the beginning of high school, Yoona had never lived with a man that was not family. "And now you're living with a guy. A male. You're living with testosterone and you didn’t even tell me,"

"I didn’t think it was that big a deal…"

"Not that big a deal?!" Jessica almost choked on her pasta. "This is a stalker we're talking about Yoona! And damn girl, you're living with a guy who's not even family to you. You're not even in a relationship with him." Jessica paused, giving herself time to recollect her thoughts. "Well you're not right?"

Now it was Yoona's turn to choke on her water. "Seriously Sica? I haven't even known the guy for very long!"

"Yet here you are living him," Jessica whistled.

Silence.

"Is he at least attractive? 'Cause I'm telling you girl, if he ain't attractive, then there's no point in your living there sweetie," Jessica pointed her finger. "He can't protect you from nothing if he's not good looking and has no muscles."

Yoona laughed at her friend, and the situation she was in now. "Yeah, he is actually. He's good to talk to and a gentlemen as well. He rings while I'm at work just to make sure I'm okay, and he goes out of his way to make me comfortable,"

"If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought you just described your boyfriend honey,"

Now that she thought about it, Taecyeon pretty much acted like an overprotective boyfriend. "It's funny Sica, he's been there for me a lot recently. I may not have known him that long, but when we first met, it was really nice. He made me laugh. And he's been there for me these past few times when Lee Seung-gi, the stalker, was there. He's comforted me when I've cried, and he's taken me in without asking for anything. Whenever something goes wrong, he's the first one I think of because I know I can rely on him. He pops into my mind every now and then without me realising, you should meet him!"

Jessica sat there and thought for a moment, not sure how to word her opinion. "Honey, are you sure you haven't fallen for him?"

"W-what do you mean?"

Jessica took a sip of her juice before answering her friend. "You're smiling from ear to ear just talking about him and I don’t think you even noticed yourself doing that. And you said you think about him now and again. I may be no love guru, but even I can tell he's the perfect man for you and I haven't even met him. Trust me girl, I think you've fallen for him without knowing,"

*

"I'm home!" Yoona called out to Taecyeon, closing the door behind her as she put down her bags next to the television set in the living room. It was crazy how Jessica could manage to slip in so much shopping time while she was over in New York. She was sure that Jessica cleaned out a whole store with the amount of bags she had been given during dinner, not to mention the other girls.

"Aunty Yoona!" She saw a little five year old boy in a duck bathrobe greet her from his seat on the couch watching television. That's right. Minho was staying with them this weekend. She had almost forgotten.

"Hey Minho!" she greeted. "Where’s Uncle Taec?"

"In the kitchen!" She heard the man's voice. "I'm making mashed potatoes. Want any?" he asked as she came into the kitchen.

 "No thanks. I've already eaten." Yoona made her way to the fridge, looking for something to drink. That's when her eyes landed on something unfamiliar. "Minho's Box?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"It’s a tradition for when Minho stay's with me. That's where all his snacks and juice boxes go, so that he doesn’t touch any of the good stuff," Taecyeon answered, referring to his alcoholic beverages as 'good stuff'. "Sure you don’t want any?" he asked again, pointing at the potatoes he was preparing.

"I'm sure," she laughed. "I'm going to my room to get changed."

"Your loss," Taecyeon laughed.

"Uncle Taec," Minho ran up to him as soon as Yoona left to get changed in her room. "Are you and Aunty Yoona married?!"

"What!?" Taecyeon was surprised at what he had just heard and put down the utensils he was using, instead picking up the five year old boy, placing him on the island in the kitchen so that he would be eye level with Minho. "You’re five. You should be playing with toy cars and learning the alphabet, not talking about love and marriage," he laughed.

"But you and Aunty Yoona live together…"

"Minho, just because Aunty Yoona and I live together, does not mean we're married young one," Taecyeon tried to explain.

"Whatever you say Uncle Taec," Minho smiled cheekily. "But you and Aunty Yoona would make great babies! I'm just sayin'," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"What on earth do they teach you at school these days?" Taecyeon muttered as he put Minho back down on the ground so he could continue making his dinner.

*

"Jessica!" Jay shouted as soon as he spotted her figure from afar in his car. Darn, she didn’t hear him. "Jessica!" he shouted again, getting out from his car. There we go.

As soon as she heard her name, she stopped. She could tell who's voice that belonged to from anywhere. It was his voice. She heard his footsteps getting closer and closer to her, but she couldn’t move. Her feet were rooted to the ground. Great.

"We need to talk," she heard him say. Awesome, just awesome.

*

"He's finally asleep," Taecyeon announced, coming into the kitchen from the spare bedroom to see Yoona doing the dishes. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, he leaned back on the island in the kitchen, watching Yoona's back while she began to dry the dishes. Never would he have imagined that a woman's backside could be so fascinating.

"I wonder who's fault that is for keeping him up so late!" She playfully replied, recalling how Taecyeon had gotten Minho excited over toys just as he showed signs of feeling sleepy earlier on in the night.

"So how was your dinner date?" Taecyeon changed the subject, wanting to find out more information on her love life.

"It was good!" Yoona replied enthusiastically. Dinner had been great - she had seen her long time friend Jessica, the food was great, and she got tonnes of souvenirs which Jessica had bought for her from New York. "Until I had to get the bus back. That was a complete disaster." Pulling a face, she recalled how inconvenient it had been for her to get on and off the bus with so many bags.

'Who in their right mind would let a woman with a stalker use the public transport system at such a late time of the night?' Taecyeon thought to himself. "Why didn’t your date drop you off back home? He should have at least had the courtesy to drop you off back here than let you take the bus." Taecyeon fired at Yoona, without realising that he had raised his voice.

His sudden change in mood surprised her. "Why are you getting so mad for no reason!?"

"I'm not getting mad! I'm just asking why your boyfriend didn’t drop you off home! He should know better than to have you take the bus when its dark and you have a creepy stalker guy."

"Yes you are! And for your information I did not have a dinner date with my boyfriend. I don’t even have a boyfriend! I went to go get dinner with a friend of mine who just got back from the States! And that thing about the stalker is really none of your business anyway." Yoona hissed back, not wanting to wake up Minho.

"Well you're living here, in my apartment because of Lee Seung-gi. So that thing about your stalker? I'm already involved. If you won't file a restraining order against the guy, then you can kiss public transport goodbye."

Yoona couldn’t believe her ears. Who did he think he was? Not wanting to risk waking Minho up, she decided to concentrate on drying the dishes.  It would give her some time to think, in case she blurted something out which she would regret. She didn’t want to lose such a good friend over something so insignificant - she didn’t even know what had started this whole argument.

Taecyeon noticed her silence. Had he taken it too far by not allowing her to use public transport? He had no right to ordering her life around. She was a fully grown adult after all. "Look, I'm sorry. If you want to use public transport, then go ahead by all means. I'm just trying to look out for you. Can you turn around?"

She did as he asked. Yoona knew that he was just looking out for her, and she had no right to get angry at him for that. Taecyeon was a gentlemen, taking her in without asking for anything in return. "Oppa, I'm not a little girl you know. I can look after myself. I haven't even seen Lee Seung-gi since last Friday night." She said quietly.

He downed the last of his beer and moved right in front of her. Taecyeon didn’t like knowing that he had made her sad and angry, and every time he did just that, he regretted it every single time. One of his hands reached for her chin, tilting it gently so that she would look into his eyes. "I know. And I'm sorry for being over-protective. I just don’t like seeing women getting hurt."

"Well I won't be getting hurt."

"You can't guarantee that honey," he said softly. "Not when we don’t know anything about Lee Seung-gi." He took a few steps closer towards her. "And I can't be there all the time to look out for you like I have these past three times." Another step.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Yoona stuttered as he backed her into the sink, their noses almost touching. Her heart pounded as he inched even closer, feeling his breath tickle her skin. One of his hands reached out for the bowl and tea towel that was between them, which only a few seconds ago, she had been drying. Yoona heard the bowl and towel being placed softly on the kitchen counter behind her as she concentrated on her breathing.

He didn’t say anything, but only got lost in her eyes. Before she could push him back, he placed his hands on her waist to lock her in place as his lips descended on hers. He felt her shock of surprise which confirmed one thing - that she hadn't noticed a few nights ago that he had kissed her forehead. One side of him was relieved that she hadn't noticed, while the other was sad because he didn’t know how she would take this kiss.

She didn’t know what had overcome herself. One second, she was shocked at the sudden intimate touch of their lips. Yoona didn’t know what to do - should she kiss him back or not? Her heart told her to do so, but then her brain argued against that thought. She had only known him for so long, it didn’t make any sense. 'Argh, what the hell,' she thought to herself and back to her conversation with Jessica. 'You'll only find out if you've fallen for him by kissing him Yoona.' And that was when she s her arms around his neck, bringing him closer so that she could kiss him back.

He smiled as their lips were locked and he felt her do the same. Taking it as a sign of content from her, his hands roamed from the sides of her waist to around it, bringing her, if possible, even closer to him.

Life couldn’t get any better for Yoona at that moment - his kisses made her squishy and warm, but she had to return to reality and decided to break free from their kiss. There were dishes that needed drying after all. "Dishes. I need to dry them," she panted, pointing a finger at the dishwashing rack.

Taecyeon couldn’t care less. "Forget about that. Leave them," he instructed. All that mattered was that he had kissed her, and she had kissed him back, with just as much passion. Placing his forehead on hers so they could catch their breaths, his whispered command soon followed. "Bedroom. Now."

Sica was right. She had fallen for him, without her knowing it, because if she hadn't, she wouldn’t be following him into his room.

*

New update! Wooo!

I'm still really sad on how Taecyeon's been confirmed for the world version of We Got Married. TTT___TTT